By CountingPips.com – Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Crude Oil Report
CFTC COT data shows speculators cut oil bets as WTI crude falls below $50 per barrel
CRUDE OIL: Futures market traders and large speculators decreased their overall bullish bets in WTI crude oil futures last week for a 3rd straight week as crude oil fell under $50 per barrel, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial contracts of crude oil futures, traded by large speculators, traders and hedge funds, fell to a total net position of +268,800 contracts in the data reported for January 6th. This was a change of -3,684 contracts from the previous week’s total of +272,484 net contracts for the data reported through December 30th.
For the week, standing non-commercial long positions in oil futures rose by a total of +19,637 contracts but were offset by the short positions that increased by 23,321 contracts to total the overall weekly net change of -3,684 contracts.
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday December 30th to Tuesday January 6th, the WTI crude oil price decreased from $54.12 to $47.93 per barrel, according to Nymex futures price data from investing.com. Brent crude prices, meanwhile, also saw a decrease from $57.90 to $51.10 per barrel from Tuesday December 30th to Tuesday January 6th, according to price data from investing.com.
Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Non-Commercial Positions
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| Date | Open Interest | Long Specs | Short Specs | Net Non-Commercials | Weekly Change | Oil Price | Brent Price |
| 12/02/2014 | 1439654 | 408718 | 143722 | 264996 | 11995 | 66.88 | 70.54 |
| 12/09/2014 | 1445093 | 413755 | 151979 | 261776 | -3220 | 63.82 | 66.84 |
| 12/16/2014 | 1475862 | 435032 | 150953 | 284079 | 22303 | 56.26 | 60.01 |
| 12/23/2014 | 1428829 | 412781 | 131132 | 281649 | -2430 | 57.12 | 61.69 |
| 12/30/2014 | 1457729 | 421184 | 148700 | 272484 | -9165 | 54.12 | 57.90 |
| 01/06/2015 | 1505101 | 440821 | 172021 | 268800 | -3684 | 47.93 | 51.10 |
*COT Report: The weekly commitment of traders report summarizes the total trader positions for open contracts in the futures trading markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).
Article by CountingPips.com – Forex Trading News
